


when enough is enough

by orphan_account



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Not Happy, Post-Canon, crutchie is in love with jack rip, crutchie is standing up for himself yay, go crutchie!!!, he's such a strong boyo, jack is kind of a jerk, not anymore tho, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 09:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17180345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: jack lied to crutchie. and crutchie isn't having any of it.





	when enough is enough

**Author's Note:**

> this is a vent fic it's supposed to suck

“So that’s it, then? You’s just gonna leave me?”

Crutchie’s hardened brown gaze bore into Jack’s grey one intensely. The blond didn’t even twitch a muscle. “Yes.”

Jack scowled. “After everything we been through together, Crutchie? You just decide to up and leave me. What a lousy thing to do. You ever...” He struggled to form words, tears threatening to spill over the edge of his eyes. “You ever consider how that makes me feel?”

Crutchie’s voice rose to a shout, a rare volume to come from such a usually sunny-dispositioned boy. “You lied to me. This ain’t about you anymore.”

“You say that like I coulda just told you the truth from the beginning! Do you even know how hard that would’ve been for me?” Jack cried defensively. He stepped half-menacingly toward Crutchie and Crutchie flinched backwards, his eyes going wide momentarily.

“Yeah, you say that but I guarantee that if you’d just told me we wouldn’t be in this mess at all,” Crutchie snapped shakily. “We’d still just be friends, and that’s sure better than nothin’. But no, you had to go leadin’ me on, givin’ me enough fake hope it coulda powered all a’ Santa Fe.” He spat the words  _ Santa Fe _ out as if it were a curse. “I thought maybe somebody actually cared ‘bout me for once,” he mumbled. “Apparently not.”

Jack tried to protest. “Crutchie, I’s always cared about you! Just… not the way that you thought. You’s like a brother to me. I still love ya, I never-”

“That’s not what you’s been telling me for the past three months, huh?” Crutchie snorted. 

Jack hesitated, clearly not knowing what to say.

“No, no, go on,” Crutchie rambled. “It’s okay, Jackie. Go ahead and tell me all about how you think I’m so amazing and how you just wanna hold me and kiss me in front of the sunset or whatever crap you was tellin’ me. Now, now remind me all about how you’s plannin’ this big trip to Santa Fe and you wanted to bring me along-”

“I still do!”

“Not like you said you did.”

Jack’s expression softened. “Look, Crutchie-”

“And then we’s havin’ some pitiful little argument and all of a sudden you’s tellin’ me you never even had feelings for me in the first place. And that the only reason you was datin’ me was because it’d destroy me if I knew you didn’t really like me back.” Crutchie’s arms crossed in front of his chest. “D’you even know how easy it would have been? To just tell me, that night I confessed to ya, ‘oh, sorry, Crutch, I’m flattered but I don’t really like you back?’ Woulda spared me an awful lotta tears.”

Jack merely scoffed, dragging his eyes away from Crutchie’s and peering over the railing of the rooftop. “Try walkin’ a day in my shoes for a change. Maybe you’d understand.”

“The only thing I gotta understand, Jack, is that it would hurt an awful much to be in the shoes of someone with such low morals.”

There was a beat of silence as Crutchie contemplated what he’d said.

“Crutchie, you can’t…” Jack was growing agonizingly desperate as he started to pace around the penthouse. “I know you’s breakin’ up with me. But I ain’t gonna lose you from my life forever. We gotta at least stay friends.”

“You say that like I deserve to stay friends with a lying asshole like you,” Crutchie retorted. “I got a bad leg but I ain’t stupid.”

Jack deflated. “I know.”

“So maybe it’d be in our best interest to part ways now,” Crutchie said coldly. He turned his back to Jack, facing the skyline and letting his gaze trail over the dark, murky depths of the city. “I deserve better than a liar.”

“You want me to leave, huh?” Jack said quietly. “You want me to just go away and not haveta see you ever again?”

Crutchie waved a dismissive hand at Jack. “I don’t care. Go gallivanting off with Katherine or somethin.’ I know you love her, at least.”

“Fine.” Jack straightened his posture, moving over to the ladder and preparing to climb down. “Goodbye, then. I guess. Maybe We’ll cross paths again someday, for more than a few seconds durin’ sellin’.”

“Good luck,” Crutchie replied.

He watched with a pang in his heart as Jack descended the ladder and slipped off into the darkness of the night. They really had been through everything together, hadn’t they? Refuge visits, the whole strike, sickness, happiness, all of it. And now it was gone. All because of Jack and his stupid lie.

Not that Crutchie minded. Cleaning out the toxic relationships in his life could do him some good. He would use this as a learning experience, a chance to look ahead. He now knew a lot more about himself and the trustworthiness of other people. His knowledge would aid him in life. He was ready- ready to tackle whatever the cruel world would throw his way, Jack or no Jack.

Of course, he noted as he limped his way over to his bed, without someone to curl up beside at night, the December chill would bite through to him even more. But that hardly mattered.

Lost in triumphant thought, Crutchie hadn’t even noticed a small patch of ice on the rooftop left over from the day’s brutal rain that had immediately frozen as the chill of the winter night had set in. His foot slipped quick as a flash, and without Jack there to catch him before he fell, he tumbled off the rooftop and onto the hard ground below. 

The first thing Jack found ten minutes later was the broken crutch.


End file.
